Nicholas Hytner will be a tough act to follow after he leaves the National
Theatre says Dominic Cavendish.

Nicholas Hytner didn’t exactly usher in his tenure at the National Theatre 10 years ago by resorting to the words of St Francis of Assisi – “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony” etc – but the institution he took over running from Trevor Nunn was hardly in the rudest of health. It’s only now that Hytner has finally announced the date of his departure – March 2015 – that we can truly appreciate just how great a transformation he has achieved.

The widespread perception before he took over was that the place was chugging along – there were undoubted moments of glory, a reassuring air of continuity, nothing to grumble about – but overall there was a lack of energy and surprise and vision, despite Nunn’s attempts late in the day to spice up the atmosphere with the Loft space and a sudden splurge of new writing.

Hitting the ground running by bringing Jerry Springer the Opera into the building and directing a modern production of Henry V that spoke to the Iraq War-laden mood of the moment, Hytner immediately shook things up and his regime has been run successfully along similar guiding principles ever since: the need to bring talent in and encourage it, and the desire to reach out as far as possible to the country as a whole, both in terms of capturing the state of the nation and making the place truly accessible to the public.

Instrumental in that vision has been his executive director Nick Starr, who has announced he will step down in 2014 (and should be made Sir Nick forthwith). Between them – and the team they’ve built up – we’ve seen the invaluable £10 deal with Travelex, which has brought many people into the National for the first time, the NT Live programme, which has screened some of the best work in cinemas across the country and round the world, and a burgeoning sense of commercial possibility. The Hytner years were defiantly populist ones – as Richard Bean’s huge bankable hit One Man, Two Guvnors proved – but the watchwords were innovation and quality, too: as much as War Horse played to the gallery in terms of broad sentimental appeal, it made puppetry look like an integral component of our theatre for the first time.

There are too many achievements on file to have space to doff one’s cap to – and given that Hytner’s will be a long goodbye, allowing him time to see the opening of the rebuilt Cottesloe (now the Dorfman) and backstage areas – there will be plenty of time to sound out his achievements. One would have to include, though, the fruitful association with Alan Bennett (viz The History Boys, The Habit of Art and People), David Hare’s post-crash investigation The Power of Yes, and the verbatim musical London Road, Howard Davies’ masterful revivals of lesser-known Russian work like The White Guard and Philistines, the contributions from avant-gardist Katie Mitchell, Danny Boyle’s double-sided look at Frankenstein and such Restoration gems as London Assurance, which allowed NT darling Simon Russell Beale to bring further pleasure to thousands. The risks haven’t always paid off, but crucially the public has bought into the idea that you go to the National in order to see risks being taken, not for a safe ride.

It will be a tough act to follow and there will be months to chew over who would be the ideal candidate to take over. Clearly it would be desirable to break the male-only line of succession that has been a notable feature until now – but if talent as bright as Dominic Cooke’s or even Sam Mendes’ presented itself, what should the board do? Unlucky them to have difficult choices ahead – lucky them, and us, to have had hit-factory Hytner around.